The financial ruin of the pro-Nazi author
David Irving came closer yesterday when a judge
ordered him to pay an interim sum of £150,000 towards
the costs incurred by Penguin Books for his disastrous libel
action against charges that he was a Holocaust denier.

Last month Mr Justice Charles Gray found in favour
of Penguin, which published a book by the American academic
Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the
Holocaust.

The judge found Ms Lipstadt was justified in saying that
Irving had falsified history to exonerate Hitler, driven by
anti-semitism and his own pro-Nazi views.

Yesterday Mr Justice Gray ordered the author to pay
£150,000 by June 17 towards Penguin's estimated
£2m legal and research costs. If Irving defaults he
could face bankruptcy and the loss of his home.

The court heard that Irving had told reporters he had a
fighting fund of more than £300,000 sent to him by
supporters around the world.

After the hearing Mr Irving refused to say whether he
could or would pay, and said the money in the fighting fund
was resting in an offshore account.

Mr Justice Gray rejected claims
by Adrian Davies, representing Irving, that any
interim costs order could hamper the author's ability to
mount an appeal.

Mr Davies had told the court: "Mr Irving has very little
prospect of paying more than relatively little of the costs
against him."

Heather Rogers, appearing for Penguin, had asked
for an order worth £500,000. Mr Justice Gray said
Penguin could seek a fresh order for Irving to pay more
money if he was denied permission to appeal.

After the costs order was granted Kevin Bays, a
solicitor for Penguin, said the publisher hoped to recover
£1.5m of its legal and research fees. "On the one hand
he says he doesn't have any money, on the other hand he's
reported as saying he has 5,000 supporters around the world
making donations," Mr Bays said.

He said the point of getting the order was to save
Penguin the time and money of compiling a list of all its
costs, by seeing if Irving could first pay a fraction of the
final bill. "By making this order we'll find out if he has
lots of supporters and money. If he doesn't pay the money,
we'll have to enforce payment. The ultimate is bankruptcy.

"A trustee in bankruptcy would be appointed to assess any
assets he's got. That would include his house."

For yesterday's hearing Irving, who represented himself
during the libel trial, hired a solicitor and a barrister.

He said the firm of solicitors he had hired, Goldsmiths,
had refused to
represent him beyond the costs hearing on "ideological"
grounds.

Speaking outside court he claimed this decision would
create more anti-semitism. "They said in their letter this
was because one partner had 'ideological grounds' objecting
to them acting for me."

He added: "They've been pouring slime over me for 30
years." Asked to clarify who he meant by "they", he said: "I
don't really want to continue this conversation."